


Underestimating Negan

by wolfie22



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: i just had to write something, little bit of caryl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 07:46:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6509164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfie22/pseuds/wolfie22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She'd saved them at Terminus, she'd saved Alexandria from the wolves, so maybe she could save them this time as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underestimating Negan

Of all the people to come after her, it had to be Morgan. Fucking _Morgan_.

Right from the beginning he had seen through her façade and had kept an annoyingly close eye on her since. It seemed as though he wasn’t about to give up anytime soon.

Carol found herself confused. Part of her just wanted to die on that doorstep, so that she wouldn’t have to deal with the world around her and the terrible things that the world now forced her to do.

She had barely gotten an hour outside of Alexandria before she was forced to take more lives. It could have been fine. They could have just turned around and gone home, but they had threatened her family, so she added more numbers to her list.

Her family was where the confusion came from.

She loved them all. She loved them so much that she knew she’d kill for them, just like she had done at Terminus, with the wolves, with Chelle, and with those men on the road. It wouldn’t ever end, and she had to get far away from them if she was going to save whatever was left of her soul. If there was anything left that is.

Now Morgan had followed her, patched her up, and wouldn’t leave her alone.

“It wasn’t just me.”

His soft voice drew her attention from the window, “Rick came looking too. Daryl and some of the others, they would’ve, but they were gone before they even knew about you.”

This caught her off guard. Rick came to look for her? They had gone through a lot since her banishment, but she and Rick had come back from that ordeal and they were still family.

Daryl had gone somewhere? He was out there with those Saviors and she was sure he wasn’t thinking straight. He blamed himself completely for Denise’s death, and she knew without a doubt that he would be going after Dwight.

Her heart ached. He was hurting, and he was in trouble, and she was running in the opposite direction.

Morgan kept talking about how the others would be back already, and how he and Carol would be leaving in the morning. The man was relentless.

He told her that he wasn’t going to leave her out here alone. He wasn’t leaving her, so she’d leave him.

* * *

 

She was still bleeding, but she walked on through the woods.

Dying in the woods while her family was potentially in danger couldn’t be how she went out. She thought back to what Paula had told her about not caring once she hit the double digits, Carol still cared.

That was the difference.

She wasn’t going to let this world turn her into a monster, but she wasn’t going to completely give up on her family either.

Her side ached, but she marched on. Daryl had told her all about Denise and the tracks, so that’s the way she headed. Railway tracks would never be the same to any of them, ever again.

She flattened herself to a tree as five trucks came barrelling down the road behind of her with armed men in the backs. They were just like the men who had attacked her on the road earlier, and they were on a mission.

When the trucks passed, she followed their tracks in the hopes that it would help her find these Saviors. If she couldn’t be with her family, then she could at least find out who exactly they were up against. It seemed like there was a never ending stream of these assholes coming from all directions, and according to Jesus, they never stopped. ==

As night fell, the smell of smoke became strong. The road was blocked by cut trees that had been set on fire. The fire was blazing brightly, but from the state of the wood, she could tell it hadn’t been burning for very long. She was close to whoever had done this, so she sank back into the trees and used the looming darkness to aid her camouflage.

As she moved in the darkness, she heard a terrifying whistling in the distance. It became louder as more voices joined in the ominous chorus, and Carol slowed her movements. She could see lights up ahead and knew that she had stumbled upon something interesting.

The interest turned to absolute fear when she moved to climb a tree and spied the RV from Alexandria alongside numerous other vehicles. More men than she could count were standing in a circle with their headlights pointed to a clearing in the middle. She got as close as she could to the men, without being seen, and slowly climbed a large tree with lots of cover.

Her heart sank as she spied the familiar faces of her family kneeling on the ground. There was a man in a leather jacket talking to Rick, and he was holding a baseball bat covered with barbed wire. He seemed to be the leader of this horrific group, and she knew that nothing good would come of this encounter.

Morgan had taken her rifle to do his sweep of their camp, so she found herself armed with just her handgun and knife. The blood loss must’ve really messed with her judgement when she left, but she knew that she had to do something that would let her family get out of this alive.

* * *

 

“You didn’t really think you were gonna get through this without being punished now did ya?”

Maybe she wouldn’t have to kill this man. He wanted vengeance for the death of his people, and she could give him that vengeance. She had killed just as many of these Saviors as Rick and the others, and the wound on her side was causing her to become light-headed. If she didn’t get stitched up soon she was going to bleed out anyway, so maybe she could be the sacrifice to ensure that her loved ones would live to fight another day.

She could hear the leather-clad man taunting Rick, and when he moved towards Maggie, her fear spiked. What the hell was Maggie doing out of Alexandria again? Glenn’s cries made her heart ache as he, Daryl and Rosita were tossed out of another car, how could she think that she could leave these people behind?

She could make this sacrifice. For them she could be strong.

He wouldn’t kill them all, he needed the manpower. He was just trying to scare them into service.

The man, Negan, said that he was going to beat the holy hell out of one of her family members to make them see how serious he was. As he began the slow taunt, Carol tried to think of a way to get his attention. She needed to piss him off, but just enough to take his attention away from Rick and move it to herself.

He seemed to be placing the bat near everyone’s head as a fear tactic. He was taunting them with who he would kill, threatening each member of the line-up, slowly and deliberately.

Any thought of a plan left her head when Negan crouched to talk to Carl. She had promised Lori that she would always take care of her son, and here he was, on his knees before a lunatic.

The gunshot rang out before she even processed what she’d just done.

The lack of a scope combined with her light-headedness from the blood loss, meant that she didn’t deliver a kill shot, but she definitely had his attention now.

* * *

The bullet struck the barbed-wire bat and knocked it from the man’s hand.

“What the FUCK?!” The man was on his feet in an instant and yelling at his men, “find them now!”

Negan moved back to stand in front of Rick, “you got more friends out there, huh?” He swung Lucille back onto his shoulder, “guess we got some more to add to our little party.”

Carol watched from her position in the tree as the men swarmed around beneath her. Every minute in the tree was getting harder as she struggled to hold onto the branches with her waning strength.

She decided to take one final shot. One final stain on her soul. The man with Daryl’s crossbow dropped to the ground. This shot would be fatal.

If they did get out of this, Daryl would kill this man, so one of her final acts would be to save him from that decision. He had killed Denise for no reason and he deserved to go. The shot had done what she wanted and now the men had converged below her position... it was showtime.

“Drop the gun, bitch,” she was getting very sick of men calling her a bitch, “get down here!”

She dropped the gun and slowly descended the tree. When she reached the bottom, two men roughly grabbed her and forced her forward into the lit clearing with her family.

The cries of “ _Carol!”_ and “ _No!”_ were ringing through her ears as the men pushed her closer to Negan.

“Here’s our little sniper,” he chuckled and tilted his head to size her up, “Ya know, Lucille here is my number one gal, and you’ve damaged her,” he took a gun from his belt and aimed it at her arm, “now you need to be punished for that.”

Carol cried out as the bullet ripped clean through her arm. She could see Daryl struggling to get up and could hear the desperate pleas from the rest of her family.

The pleas fell on deaf ears as Negan continued his taunts, “I was in the middle of a nice little speech, and you interrupted. Not fucking cool.”

He pointed the damaged bat at her bleeding arm, “Did you think you were gonna come in here all by yourself and save them?” He gestured to her distressed family, “you’ve got some delusions of grandeur there girl.”

The men around them laughed and Carol raised her chin, this wasn't the time for her nervous little bird act, this was a time to be strong, “I heard your little speech, and thought I’d interrupt before someone died of boredom, that wouldn’t be very good now would it? Especially since you’re trying to make a big gesture here.”

“Carol, don’t!” She looked to see Rick pleading with her to stop, but she wasn’t going to listen this time.

“Damn sweetheart, you got a set of balls, but now’s not the time to show them,” he pushed her to the ground in front of him and placed Lucille near her head, “if you heard me, then you know someone here is dying tonight, so you might wanna hold your tongue.”

Carol let out a small laugh, “You think killing one of my family is going to make me work for you?” she questioned. She looked straight into his eyes, “It’s just gonna make me want to kill more of your men. Maybe burn them alive like I did back in the warehouse with Paula, or just leave them to bleed out like Jiro and the men you sent to Alexandria.”

She saw his eyes widen slightly, “You want to kill me to keep them in line? Do it.” She refused to look away from Negan as the cries from Glenn, Daryl, Rick and Carl got louder, “But you touch one of them, and I wont stop until all your men are dead.”

“Fuck,” Negan smiled and turned to look at his lineup again, “You sure you’re the leader, Rick? Cause this one talks like the leader.”

He twirled Lucille around a little as he looked up and down the line, “she your mom, kid? You both have this kind of stoic vibe going on,” Carl refused to answer but looked to Carol with pain in his eyes.

“Nah, she must belong to this one,” Negan moved down the line towards Daryl who had been struggling against his captor with vigour ever since she was brought into the light. He’d been yelling at her and yelling at Negan, but Carol was trying with all of her might to ignore her family.

“Just stop this!” Rick tried to interrupt again, but was shut down immediately by Negan.

“Hey! Do not make me kill the kid, Rick. Don’t make this easy on me.” Rick shut up right away, and Carol had never seen the man look more terrified. This is why she was here. Rick and Michonne had the kids, Glenn and Maggie needed each other, everyone in that lineup had people and she wanted to make sure they would all stay together.

He began to walk the line again, stalking his prey. When he stopped to look at Maggie, Carol knew that Glenn was going to do something stupid, so she did first. She threw her elbow into the stomach of the man behind her and rose to her feet, “Get away from her!”

Negan turned and grabbed her harshly, “I’m getting sick of this, darlin’,” he pushed her to her knees again and placed the bat on her shoulder. This time the barbed wire scratch across her cheek as he angrily stared down at her.

“I get it, it’s an emotional moment, but you need to calm the fuck down, sweetheart,” Carol could see the wheels turning in the madman’s head. She thought that he would’ve killed her after her first comment, but he was still trying the intimidating tactics on the group.

“See this little pixie here has fucked up my plans,” he ran Lucille across her other cheek leaving a thin, bleeding line, “now normally I just bash in some brains, and you get the message. Most people shit their pants a little and then they understand that I mean business, so they don’t cross me again.”

He slowly moved so that he was standing behind Carol, and now she had nothing to focus on but the faces of her family that were directly in front of her. Maggie looked like she was going to fall over at any moment, and Carol immediately knew that there was something off with the baby. Carl was trying to stay strong, Glenn was focused solely on his wife, and Daryl was looking at her with more fear in his face than she had ever seen.

Rick was directly in front of her, and she tried to give him a reassuring look, but knew that nothing could help this situation.

“But you…you seem ready to die, pixie,” he nudged her bleeding arm with Lucille causing her to clutch the injury and hiss and pain. Without warning, he kicked her side with the toe of his boot and she hunched forward, placing her hands over the blood-soaked bandage, “I think we can find something a little more interesting to do with you.”

He kicked her again and she fell to the ground and curled in on herself with a groan. Placing his foot on her side, he addressed Rick, “you seem to value this one, don’t you?”

Rick stayed silent, so Negan slowly added pressure to his foot causing Carol to groan in pain again, “Yes!” Rick shouted, “Let her up!”

“See I threatened everyone in this line-up and most of you stayed nice and quiet, but this one comes out and everyone starts to get a little antsy,” he put his hand in her hair and hauled her back into kneeling position, “she must be important.”

Carol had gone white as a sheet and knew that she would pass out soon, “just finish it already,” she croaked out.

Negan chuckled down at her and then looked at Rick, “Are you understanding how it works now, Rick? Do you get how fucked you really are?”

Rick gave a jerky nod, he knew. He had been too cocky this time. This man was no Governor, and he had way more followers than anticipated. They weren’t ready or this, and it was his fault.

“You got strong people here, and I want them working for me. That means I need leverage,” he lightly tapped Carol on the arm with the bat, “and that’s where pixie comes in.”

“One of your men is shot,” he gestured to a struggling Daryl, “this one clearly has some major problems,” he pointed to Maggie, “and you all care about each other too much, so you’ve made this pretty easy.”

He hauled Carol to her feet and drew her into his side in a strange hug, “Me and Carol here are going on a little road trip,” he smirked down at her, “she just earned one of you a reprieve.”

“Take me!” Daryl’s struggles began again, but Negan’s men shut it down as soon as it began.

“None of that!,” Negan squeezed Carol a little closer, “I said I don’t want to kill you, but if you keep this shit up I’ll just chalk this up as a loss and fucking take you all out, starting with the kid.”

He moved in front of Rick again and spoke directly to him, “when we come to get our shit, she’ll be with us, and she’ll be hurting until we get it, understand?” At Rick’s nod he continued, “we don’t get our shit, we’ll send you a little something, maybe an eye for your boy,” he gestured to Carol’s face, “she got some pretty blue eyes.”

Negan signaled to his men, “take her to the truck, and get her patched,” two men grabbed her arms, which caused her to croak out in discomfort, and they dragged her away from her crying family.

“Now we’re gonna head out, Rick, and you are gonna get back in your little RV and go home,” a sickening smile slowly spread across his face, “I’ll be seeing you real soon, and when you hear me knock you best make sure you welcome me with open arms or I’ll chop off one of Pixie’s and leave it at your door.”

He crouched in front of Rick again, “you lost this one, and you will lose against me, every. Fucking. Time,” he enunciated each word with a tap of Lucille against Rick’s head.

Negan smirked and placed Lucille back on his shoulder, “you should consider yourselves pretty fucking lucky that she showed up,” the group could see Carol, arms tied and being roughly patched up by some of Negan’s men in the back of a truck, “I had my eye on this one,” he gestured to Glenn.

Negan walked over to stand in front of Glenn, “if you fuck this up…if you don’t deliver your shit on time? Don’t co-operate? Not only will Pixie be in for a world of hurt, but this one will be getting up close and personal with Lucille here,” he swung the bat at Glenn and harshly struck him in the stomach.

Maggie screamed, but Abe held her back as Glenn fell to his side. He held his stomach as he started to cough as Negan simply laughed and moved back to Rick.

“Welcome to the new world, Rick,” Negan gave a sharp whistle and a large group of armed men came forward to stand next to him, “these fellas are gonna make sure you get home safe and sound.”

Negan flung his arms open wide and the large circle of Saviors began their chilling whistle again, “you fucked with the wrong people this time,” he joined in the chorus as he walked over to his newest hostage, “let’s get you home, hmm?”

He opened the passenger door of the truck and shoved Carol inside. Once he was in the driver's seat, he stuck his head out of the window as five men jumped in the box of the truck, “three days, Rick. Three days.”

And they sped off into the darkness.

* * *

 

_Well Fuck._

That was the only thought running through Carol’s mind as she looked into the side mirror and watched as her family shrank in the distance. She had planned for today to be her last day on earth, and for that sacrifice to be worth something, and now she was with a madman while her family was being terrorized.

This did not go according to plan at all. They had underestimated him and his Saviors, and if anyone knew the damage of underestimating people, it was Carol.

It wasn’t over. Her family was still out there and they needed her help. She wouldn’t give up now, she couldn’t.

She had said that she couldn’t love anyone because she couldn’t kill for anyone, but in reality, she’d kill for these people and she knew it. Her soul was damaged, and damaged people gravitate towards each other, that’s what made them family.

They’d get through this.

They always did.


End file.
